As on a Darkling Plain
by Republic-Of-Heaven
Summary: Schoolgirl, loner, traveller between worlds... Robi knew she should never have spoken to Stephen Hart.


Note: I have no idea why I am writing a fantasy story as I hardly ever read them, but I hope you like this. It will be multi-chapter and I shall try to update quite often.

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Roberta Reade was bored. The rest of her class seemed to be having the time of their lives but Robi sat and stared blankly at the clock. There were always those fifteen minutes between class registration and the start of lessons, and most of the pupils of Sandbourne School used that time to chat with their friends or rush off a piece of homework. Not Robi: she did all her homework in plenty of time and, if truth be told, no-one seemed interested in talking to her. It was not that she was the class freak, for that honour was given to Stephen Hart, a secretive boy with a thick black mop of hair permanently covering his eyes. No, Robi was simply quiet and found it difficult to strike up conversations with others.

She flicked her dark brown hair over her shoulder, then decided to tie it back for something to do. As she twisted the band through her hair, she glanced up and saw her form tutor Mr Timms gazing at her. 'Great', she thought, 'I can't get a normal boyfriend, so instead get some middle-aged married man after me'.

It was true that Robi had never had a boyfriend, mainly because of her reluctance to say anything to anyone, though none of the boys in her class had ever particularly interested her. Most of the girls fawned over Alex Kalen, the tall blue-eyed rugby captain, but she thought him a bit of a boor. In fact, Robi did not like most people in her form, especially one Alicia Swallow.

Alicia was blonde, very beautiful and had friends in vast numbers. These 'friends' were mostly male and her love life seemed to be as dramatic as those of teenagers in bad television programmes. Alicia was not very successful when it came to schoolwork, but she could dance gracefully with no apparent effort. This was always a sore point with Robi, who detested having to move to a beat, yet made Alicia very popular at parties where music was involved.

Mr Timms stood up and clapped his hands, and the class gradually fell silent after a few repetitions of this action. Robi stood up with relief as he gave the word to go to lessons. She marched briskly to the door, then paused to wait for another girl. The effervescent Tilly Norman had recently become interested in Robi, occasionally leaving her usual group to talk to her, and Robi had decided to make the most of having a friend.

Tilly bounded up to her and shooed her out the classroom.

"Hey Robi – how's life?" she yelled above the heads of some Year 7s waiting in the corridor.

"Fine. How's James?" Robi yelled back, mentioning Tilly's boyfriend from another school.

"He's great."

The girls manoeuvred their way past a stack of chairs that had been left in the middle of the hallway.

"I say, Robi -". Tilly glanced back at her companion and grinned slyly. "Talking of boys, did you see Stephen Hart watching you all through form time?"

Robi sighed. "He wasn't looking at me – it was at Alicia. She sits between us – surely you know he's mad about her?"

Tilly made a sound of amazement then laughed. "God, how dreadful! Who on earth would want _him _mad about them?"

Robi giggled self-consciously and the two girls strolled casually into their Chemistry lesson.

At break time, Robi sat on her own in a corner of the classroom eating a cereal bar, observing those around her. She supposed she could go and join Tilly and her friends, but she did not like Tilly's companions much, finding them childish. Instead she watched Stephen, who was looking at Alicia in such a way it suggested that he wanted to kiss and murder her at the same time. Alicia did dress a little inappropriately, rolling her uniform skirt up slightly too high and wearing her regulation white blouse lower and tighter than most of the girls, yet none of the other boys looked at her in quite the same way that Stephen was doing.

Robi got up in a haze of confidence that felt alien to her. She got up from her desk and walked towards him, aiming to speak with him, if only to find out if he were as odd as everyone believed.

"Hi Stephen".

She paused as he turned to catch her in his intense gaze.

"Y-You…erm…d-did well in Chemistry. I would never have thought of the answer to the last question."

He gave her a nod of thanks and brushed his black hair off his forehead. 'I bet he dyes it' came shooting into Robi's head, yet she could not think of anything suitable to say. Luckily, he saved her.

"I've always found the sciences easy – they're just common sense as far as I'm concerned"

His voice was more 'upper-class' than Robi had previously realised, but she was not surprised. Sandbourne was a private school, so many people spoke like newsreaders. Yet there was something strange about his voice that intrigued her, something unfamiliar behind the often-heard vowel sounds.

Robi glanced up from her view of the floor to Stephen's face and was surprised to see him looking somewhere above her head. She spun round and stood face to face with Alex Kalen. He moved to her side and put his hand on her arm, and she met the eyes of his friends who were looking curiously at the group.

"I thought I told you to stay away from everyone, Hart", Alex growled in a voice only just loud enough for Robi to hear.

"I have a right to talk to anyone I please, Kalen", Stephen returned the growl, failing to mention that Robi had approached him. He leaned to the side and smirked softly, and Robi saw that he was looking at Alicia once more, who had stopped talking to her friends and was standing stiffly and looking right back.

"Remember where you are." Alex spoke again.

The tension was tangible, yet Robi had no idea why there should even be any. She glanced at Alex again and noticed that Alicia had come to join them and was gripping his upper arm.

"But Kalen," Stephen whispered, "aren't we in…Kalesia?" He clamped his hands to Alicia and Robi's shoulders and began to snigger.

Robi opened her mouth to ask what they were talking about, but no sound came out. She heard a rushing sound in her ears and was conscious of nothing but the faces of Stephen, Alex and Alicia as the rest of the classroom blurred as it had done before she got her contact lenses. A wave of blonde hair crashed into her face and she heard Stephen's sniggering turn into wild gales of laughter as Alex swore loudly. All their hands seemed welded to each other, but another wave, of water this time, smashed into the four teenagers and broke the circle apart.

Robi gasped as the cold water engulfed her, but then had to gasp again at her surroundings. There was nothing, nothing but a huge sea for miles and miles in every direction. She struggled in vain to keep her head above the water. Her flailing arm hit Alicia, who did not look at all surprised at the abrupt change of scene, yet appeared different from usual with her makeup smeared all over her face. Stephen and Alex were arguing ferociously, yet she could not hear their words through the rush of the waves and the roar of thunder that began to beat across the sky.

Alicia pulled her up and Robi came face-to-face with a girl she had never spoken to before. Alicia shouted into her face in order to let her voice be heard above the gradually worsening storm.

"It's alright, don't worry! Just let yourself sink – I promise you'll be fine!" Her words were intended to reassure, yet the look of horror on her face did nothing to calm Robi. However, she caught the urgency in the blonde girl's face and stopped struggling. Beside her she felt Alicia do the same, and the two girls clasped hands as they sank into the maelstrom below.

I hope you liked it! Please review so I can hear your views and criticism.


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